Cruise Control, Yeah Right!

Eden Cruise was born to be active. His father competed in triathlons and Cruise was pounding the pavements at a tender age.

Running around and around was never stimulating enough for Cruise who at the age of nine decided to take up Iron Man. When Iron Man proved too arduous mountain biking became an adored and successful substitute.

In his first Karapoti Classic in 2009, Cruise completed the 50km course in three hours and 35 minutes becoming the youngest person to complete New Zealand’s oldest Mountain Bike race. Six years later Cruise won the entire event aged 15, beating the record of Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anton Cooper by a year.

The Upper Hutt based event has a special place in Cruise’s heart and proved to be a catalyst for greater things.

“It’s a unique old school race. There is a steep, rocky, loose part, then the rock garden which is two kilometres of straight rock before the devil’s stair case at Dopers Hill which reaches 531-metres at its highest point. It’s a great race against great competition,” Cruise acclaims.


Since 2011, Cruise has kicked onto win seven consecutive National titles and three Oceania Championships. His most recent success was last weekend at the National Championships in Wanaka where he captured the National Under-19 title, backing up his success from 2016. The course presented and the cool weather presented a fierce challenge.

“It was about eight degrees on race day which was quite cold compared to normal. Our ‘call up’ to the race grid was roughly ten minutes before the starters gun which allowed us to cool down – this is the opposite of what we needed – so the first lap was almost like a warm up lap. From the gun the legs felt heavy and it took me a lap to get a good feeling in my legs, due to the temperature,” Cruise reveals.
The course itself was demanding.

“The course was above altitude so that had an effect on the lungs and added unusual challenges. It started with a typical hill climb which lasted about seven minutes, followed by a technical decent which consisted of steep, loose corners and rock. After this the track had a little pinch climb and zigzagged across a stream before the downhill sprint to the finish, ” Cruise says.

Cruise managed to get the lead on the second lap and foil the challenge of Taylor Johnston from Rotorua.
“Taylor has been a competitor for a few years now and he’s been riding well over the past few years which is cool to see, especially because he is a team mate of mine too. I had to work hard for the win,” Cruise recalls.

There is plenty of hard work in store for Cruise for the remainder of 2016. The 17 year old had lofty ambitions.

“In just under two weeks I am off to the Oceania Champs which will be tough competition against five Aussies in particular. Later in the year I make my first international tour with the New Zealand MTB Hub squad where we will visit numerous places in Europe during May and June. After this I come back in to the country for more training followed by another trip over to the USA and Canada for junior World Series races. My main goal is to get a podium at the World Champs in Cairns, Australia, on September 1st.”

Cruise is sponsored by Torpedo 7 and Trek Bikes.

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